Odin attacked first.
There was no warning beyond a slight change in the way his fingers held Gungnir. The spear rotated a fraction in his hand, its point stopped aiming at Vergil's chest and shifted several centimeters to the side. It looked like an alignment mistake, but Vergil immediately realized it was deliberate.
He moved Excalibur to block.
Gungnir did not go where the point indicated.
Odin advanced with a single step, and the spear changed trajectory in the middle of the attack, curving around Vergil's blade before rising toward his throat. The movement was too clean to depend only on speed. The shaft rotated between the God-King's fingers, using Excalibur's block as support to change the angle.
Vergil tilted his neck.
The point crossed his skin and opened a thin cut beneath his jaw. The Authority of Death tried to cling to the metal at the instant of contact, but Gungnir expelled the influence with a discharge of golden runes.
Vergil retreated two steps.
